Preston's youth team maintained the pace at the top end of the Youth Alliance League after two late goals meant they settled for a draw after the long trip to Shrewsbury.

After falling behind with ten minutes remaining, North End rallied, and took a point home after Tom McMahon's stunning strike with just minutes to go.

In spite of a sometimes problematic trip, head of youth Dean Ramsdale was pleased with the endeavour shown by the side. He claimed:

"We had to set off a 7am for our two-and-a-half hour journey down there - it's certainly a long way to go at this level of football. We ended up playing on a postage stamp of a pitch which wasn't conducive to our attacking wide play but you've got to play accordingly.

"They were a team that were pretty much geared up to playing long ball and set plays. It was a battle for 90 minutes but we coped with it and we came away with a well earned point.

"Shrewsbury scored first with a goal in the 80^th minute when we didn't cover the back post very well, an apt goal for a scrappy affair, but they went off and celebrated as though they'd won the European Cup. That got to our players a little bit and we continued to pass the ball around as we'd tried to do all game.

"Eventually, Tom McMahon nicked the ball in midfield, broke forwards and chipped the keeper from 30 yards to make it 1-1. That meant it was our turn to celebrate as though we'd won the European Cup.

"It was a different game to the sort we'd been having in our previous run of four consecutive home games. On the new pitch at Springfields, we can play the way we want to play because it's a really good passing surface. We want the lads to pass it around on there, and they do.

"When we go away we have to change the way we play, and we'll often play against teams who don't want to play football against us, as we found out last Saturday. I'll say it again that youth development is all about a learning process and we'll have learnt something from that game."